


Melody and Harmony

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Partners [22]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Little bit of angst, M/M, Missing Scene, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-15 14:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3451076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are some things that Steve can only tell Danny. </p><p>(A McDanno post-ep for 5x17)</p><p>***NOW WITH CHAPTER 2***</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Steve had meant to come outside, grab the guitar, and bring it straight back into the house.

He stood beside the trunk of the Camaro, staring down at the open guitar case resting on the trunk. It was embarrassing enough that he'd waited until Grace was asleep, not wanting to answer the questions that would inevitably rise if she saw him walking around with the guitar case. He loved her with everything he had, but it took more than that to be able to admit fear to someone. Danny was the only person in the world he trusted that much, and even then it sometimes felt like ripping scar tissue open.

Steve traced his fingers around the curve of the guitar Danny had given him, marveling all over again at how beautiful it was. The one he'd had as a kid hadn't been nearly this nice, and even if he could still remember how to play he was pretty sure whatever music he produced wouldn't be worthy of the instrument.

He could still remember how vulnerable he'd felt....

"Should I bring you out a pillow and blanket, or are you going to come inside eventually?"

Embarrassed, Steve looked up at the sound of Danny's voice. "Sorry." He hurriedly closed the case as his partner got closer. "I got distracted."

"I can see that." Danny's voice was easy as he popped the case back open, moving in close enough to rub a hand along Steve's back. "Tell me you're not letting yourself have one last look before this goes in the back of the closet and neither of us ever see it again."

Steve opened his mouth for the denial, then closed it when he realized he didn't really have one. "I'm not sure I even remember how to play."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Let me remind you that you are _terrible_ at golfing, and yet somehow still beat a man who is more obsessed with the sport than Tiger Woods apparently ever was. If your superhero mojo can handle that, it'll help you remember how to play the guitar."

Steve felt his lips quirk upward as he looked over at the man he loved. "You just want me to play Bon Jovi."

"Do not even try and tempt me with that, Steven. You know as well as I do that you'll learn the Beatles entire oeuvre just to annoy me, forcing me to learn to tolerate their music simply because you'll be the one playing it."

Chest tight with emotion, Steve put an arm around Danny and pressed a kiss against the side of his head. "You have too much faith in me."

"No, I have exactly the right amount of faith in you." Danny gave him a quick squeeze, expression going soft. "Sometimes I wish I'd known you in high school. I'd have talked you out of doing something so incredibly nerdy as a talent show, which would have meant you wouldn't be too traumatized to play for me while we smoked behind the bleachers."

Steve grinned at the image even as his throat tightened at the thought of having Danny in his life back then. The only person who'd been there that night was his mother, who'd accepted the explanation that he'd been suddenly ill and had never asked why he didn't pick it up again. "I wouldn't have smoked. Had to stay in shape for football."

"Then you would have played and given me disapproving looks while I smoked, and I would have confronted my latent bisexuality a hell of a lot earlier than I ended up doing it." He pulled away far enough to pick up the guitar, then turned and handed it to Steve. "It'll be less scary once you make yourself play something. Even if it's just a chord progression."

Steve settled the guitar against his chest, digging through his memory for a song. He looked back up at Danny, surprised at how nervous he felt. "Don't laugh, okay?"

His partner gave him a faintly disapproving look. "You should know by now that I mock the Super-Seal Steve McGarrett, not the idiot 15-year-old." He smiled. "Him, I like."

It was Steve's turn to raise an eyebrow. He'd spent a long time trying to convince himself that he'd put the lost, lonely teenage version of himself behind him, but with Danny he felt younger than he had in a really long time. "You know you're marrying both of them, right?"

Danny shrugged. "Oh, I love them both. I just want to strangle the SEAL sometimes."

Steve smiled again, something inside him easing as he leaned back against the trunk. Then he took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax as he found what he was pretty sure was the right note to start on. He let old muscle memory take over, feeling for just a second like he was back in his old bedroom practicing for that stupid talent show.

Except this time, there was a blond kid in a backwards baseball cap sitting on the bed next to him. Danny's mother had made sure Steve had seen all the pictures she had of his teenage years, and it was all too easy to slide him into the memory like he'd always been there.

When the music died away, Danny gave an exaggerated sigh. "'Let it Be.'" He shook his head. "I should have known."

"Hey, I didn't have someone singing the praises of Bon Jovi back then," Steve retorted, putting the guitar away. "I'll learn 'Born to Be My Baby' just for you."

"Don't think I won't hold you to that." Danny slid a hand around the back of Steve's neck, pulling him down for a soft kiss. "That was wonderful, by the way, especially for your first time picking up a guitar in a few decades."

Steve smiled, feeling oddly shy. "Thanks." He stole another kiss, longer this time. "Can you maybe not mention it to the rest of the team, though?"

Danny sighed. "You do know they saw you pull a guitar out of my trunk, right?"

"Yeah." Steve closed his eyes a moment, steeling himself for that inevitable future. "Just ... not yet, okay?"

"Fair enough." Danny's voice was warm as he picked up the guitar and started herding them both into the house. "I make no promises about Grace, though, and warn you in advance that she'll add a One Direction song to your request list."

Steve tightened his arm around Danny. "I think I can manage that."


	2. Chapter 2

Once he got Steve inside, it didn’t take too much effort for Danny to drag him upstairs and into bed. Sleep was much less of a priority at that point, but neither of them were exactly young anymore and it was always nice to go for comfort when you had the option.

Afterward, Danny stayed sprawled across Steve, shifting so that his ear was pressed right up against his partner’s heartbeat. Steve’s arms tightened around him for a moment, not asleep enough yet to let go even a little, and Danny felt himself drift off along a wave of sheer contentment.

A moment later, though, Steve broke the silence. “You might be right about the control freak thing,” he said quietly, in that voice Danny had recently labeled “making therapeutic progress.” As much as Danny needled both Steve and the therapist at their department-appointed sessions – apparently, you couldn’t break fraternization rules and get off without at least _some_ repercussions – he took that voice very seriously.

He opened his eyes, pushing himself upright to look down at the man he loved. “I _am_ right about the control freak thing, because as you will one day learn I am right about most things.” His own voice was light but gentle. “But like I said before, I happen to love this particular whacked-out control freak.”

Steve’s lips quirked upward. “All part of my master plan.” Then he sobered, something almost fragile in his expression. “But … I was thinking about the part where I wouldn’t let you drive your car. I don’t insist on driving anyone else’s car, and if I just needed control I would have always had us drive around in my truck.”

Danny waited patiently, biting back the witty rejoinder he would be making in any other circumstance. There would be plenty of time for that later, but right now he didn’t want to distract Steve from whatever secretly traumatic moment of his past he was suddenly willing to share. There were apparently more of them down there than even Danny had realized, and he was going to damn well help Steve work through each and every one of them.

Steve hesitated, then let out a breath. “I think … I think a part of me felt like, if I had your car, it would be harder for you to leave.”

It took a second for the implications of that to fully sink in, but once they did something squeezed tight in Danny’s chest. He wondered, sometimes, what the world would be like if he’d had any idea how Steve had felt back then. “We really need to teach you to use your words, babe,” he murmured, voice rough.

Steve smiled, the tension easing out of his muscles. “I thought that was _your_ master plan.”

“Only one of its many phases.” Danny leaned down for a long, slow kiss, nuzzling Steve’s cheek before pulling away again. “You know I’m not going anywhere, right? I think I’ve made it pretty clear by this point that you’re stuck with me for life.”

“You have,” Steve said softly, then looked faintly embarrassed. “I just never connected it to the driving before today. I kept expecting to feel some kind of tension because I was in the passenger seat, but it never happened.”

Danny smiled. “A therapeutic breakthrough,” he said softly, then bent down for another kiss. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Steve’s arms tightened around him. “I just told the only person who matters.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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